Unable to connect to POP email

Question

Unable to connect to POP email

Julian Norman 0

I cannot at all connect to my email using POP access.

I have an app password, I have tried to enable everything I can find I need to. But nothing works! I have checked that the remote machine I'm accessing it from has access to the Office 365 POP server and port and it does.

Sometimes the logs show

Connecting via Socket

Socket: tls://outlook.office365.com:995

Socket error: 0 -  (Resource id #1763)

Socket: POP3

checkOS: Linux

socket read (1) :+OK Microsoft Exchange POP3 server ready (tcpproxy/15.20.9343.009). [TABPADQAUAAyADYANQBDAEEAMAAyADMAMwAuAEcAQgBSAFAAMgA2ADUALgBQAFIATwBEAC4ATwBVAFQATABPAE8ASwAuAEMATwBNAA==]

Socket: attempting a secure connection

socket write: STLS

checkOS: Linux

socket read (1) :-ERR Command is not valid in this state.

socket write: USER [email removed]

checkOS: Linux

socket read (0) :

fetch_mail: POP3 - Could not connect to POP3 server outlook.office365.com on port 995. Array
(
)

Any ideas please? Many thanks.

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3 answers

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Hello Julian,

Thank you for reaching out about the issue with connecting to your email using POP access I understand how frustrating it can be when you’ve already tried multiple steps and still cannot establish a connection. This usually happens because POP access in Microsoft 365 requires specific authentication settings and recent security updates may have changed how these protocols work.

To resolve this please verify that POP access is enabled for your account in the Microsoft 365 admin center and confirm that your email client is configured to use modern authentication or an app password if multi-factor authentication is enabled. Additionally ensure that SSL/TLS is selected for the connection and that the server settings are correct: outlook.office365.com on port 995. If you are still seeing errors like “Command is not valid in this state” it may indicate that the client is not negotiating TLS properly so updating or switching to a client that supports modern authentication could help.

Another thing consider using IMAP or Exchange protocols instead of POP as these are more secure and fully supported by Microsoft 365. IMAP allows you to sync emails across multiple devices and Exchange provides the best experience with full mailbox features. To switch update your email client settings to use outlook.office365.com with IMAP on port 993 and SSL/TLS enabled or configure Exchange using the recommended settings in Microsoft Learn. This change ensures compatibility with modern authentication and reduces connection errors.

Could you confirm if POP is enabled for your mailbox and whether you are using an app password with SSL/TLS? Also could you confirm if switching to IMAP or Exchange is an option for you? If you prefer to keep POP?

I hope this answer is helpful if you have further questions feel free to reply back

Regards,

Marcelo

Answer 3

It seems you are experiencing issues connecting to your email using POP access with Office 365. Here are a few suggestions to troubleshoot the problem:

Check Basic Authentication: Ensure that Basic authentication is enabled for POP access. If it has been disabled in your organization’s settings, you will need to re-enable it. You can do this using the following PowerShell command:
```
   Set-AuthenticationPolicy -Identity <Policy Name> -AllowBasicAuthPop -AllowBasicAuthImap -AllowBasicAuthSmtp
```
After making this change, you may need to refresh the token for the user account.
Verify Security Defaults: If your organization has enabled security defaults, POP access might be automatically disabled. You can check this and disable security defaults if necessary.
Check Server and Port Settings: Confirm that you are using the correct server settings. For Office 365, the POP server should be outlook.office365.com and the port should be 995 for SSL connections.
Firewall and Network Configuration: Ensure that there are no firewall rules or network configurations blocking the connection to the POP server.
Logs Analysis: The logs indicate a command error when attempting to switch to a secure connection. Ensure that your email client is configured to use SSL/TLS for the connection.
Test with Different Email Client: If possible, try connecting with a different email client to rule out client-specific issues.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance.

References: